


Demitasse

by Nellblazer



Series: The Tarot Challenge [2]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Angst, Awkward Conversations, Awkward Tension, Emotional Manipulation, Established Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter, F/M, Gaslighting, Heavy Angst, Post-Break Up, Regret, Smut, Someone Help Will Graham
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 04:08:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30083250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nellblazer/pseuds/Nellblazer
Summary: Day 2 of the Tarot Challenge is Death.After Will suddenly calls off your relationship, you’re determined to find out the reason which leads to the most awkward dinner party of your life with Dr Lecter.*Please do not replicate my work anywhere else without my express permission*
Relationships: Will Graham/Reader
Series: The Tarot Challenge [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2211630
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	Demitasse

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Mentions of gaslighting, manipulation, angst, hints of abuse, smut  
> Prompt will be in bold within the text.

The house had felt so empty since Will had left.

It wasn't just that his dogs had gone and there was no bustling of furry paws on the hardwood floor or grumblings as they tried to get the best spot on the couch but the sheer lack of any of his possessions made the rooms feel bare. He didn't even own that much but its absence was felt the second he walked out of my life.

I spent days wondering what had gone wrong, why he'd had a sudden change of heart when it wasn't so long ago that he was telling me I meant the world to him, that I was the only rock in his life. What had I possibly done to crush his love for me?

And then it became apparent what the cause was when I was invited to dinner at Dr Lecter's house.

When I arrived, I sensed immediate tension in the air. I had expected that it would just be Hannibal and I but once I came into the dining room, I saw Will who quickly looked away. I would almost say he was ashamed.

“I hope you do not mind,” Hannibal takes my coat. “I understand you two are not together any more and this may be a hardship but I did both promise you this meal.”

“I can put aside my personal feelings for a night.”

“That is admirable, my dear,” Hannibal gives me a short smile before pulling the chair out so I can sit down.

What follows is the most uncomfortable experience of my life. Will doesn't talk to me directly, he addresses everything to Hannibal and once they begin their discussion of the new murder case, I am frozen out of the conversation. Since the portions of food are so delicate and dainty, I cannot even hide in the food for long before I have to try and pay attention.

It is excruciating to listen to Will be so animated in his words, so passionate when he used to speak to me this way and now all I get is silence. For being such an impeccable host, Hannibal is fuelling this, not even trying to include me and I have my suspicions of something between them when they both share a warm smile with each other.

When Hannibal's smile drops as he notices my face, my suspicions only grew. We locked eyes and an understanding passed there, an understanding and a challenge.

Hannibal's gaze only spoke of aggression and possessiveness. His message was as clear as the crystal we drank our wine from.

_He is mine._

Politeness was the only thing that kept me there as Hannibal left the table to fetch our dessert. Now Will and I were alone and I did not want to speak to him but for the first time that evening, Will tried to get my attention.

“You look...you look lovely,” he flounders for the words.

“So does Hannibal, doesn't he?” I don't even dignify him with eye contact. “You could've told me, Will.”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” he says quickly.

“Don't you?” I look up. “I'm not blind. You and Dr. Lecter are welcome to each other.”

“It's not like that.”

“Does _he_ know that?” I motion to the doorway. “I loved you, Will. I still do so I'll say this only once. Be careful around him. I don't think he has your best interests at heart.”

Will's eyes were glistening and I caught the expression of pain on his face but it was interrupted by Hannibal returning with plates and I managed to plaster a false smile on, accepting my dish gracefully.

For the rest of the evening, I tuned them out, only speaking when spoken to and after a time I thought was socially acceptable, I excused myself saying I had work early in the morning.

Hannibal retrieved my coat and walked me to the door but he caught my wrist as I was about to go to my car and whispered in my ear,

“You would do well not to come near him again. He has made his choice and his future does not include you in it. Respect his wishes, try not to put doubt in his head.”

“Like _you_ did?” I look at him out of the side of my eye. “There is no possible way my sweet Will would've turned on me this rapidly unless someone else was involved in that decision.”

“You think too highly of yourself,” his grip is becoming tighter. “He does not want you any longer.”

“And there will come a day when he won't want you either,” I hiss. “You can only drip poison in someone's ear for so long before they build an immunity to it.”

“Very good,” he laughs softly. “I do love your overtly flowery descriptions, my dear. They stir my soul in a way not many people are able to.”

The way he says it has a chill running up my spine. It is almost as if he means to use that silver tongue on me as well, to collect Will and I both to be his personal possessions.

“I would almost believe that if you _had_ a soul,” I wrench my arm out of his grasp and stalk to the car.

That was the last time I saw Will Graham for months.

**

There was a pounding on my door in the middle of the night.

At first I ignored it, not wanting to escape from the soft cocoon of my recliner chair that I'd managed to fall asleep on by the fire but the noise became too great to ignore. I had to fight with the blanket I had become entangled to escape but eventually I was free.

When I opened the door, I was shocked; firstly to see Will standing on my doorstep and secondly that he was soaking wet to the bone.

There had been a thunderstorm in the area and a deluge of rain and it appeared as if Will had been walking through it for some time. He was shivering violently but he had that look in his eye when he was determined to do something, single-minded in the pursuit until he could achieve it.

“Hi,” he tries to smile through chattering teeth.

“Will, what are you doing?!” I open the door wider.

“I...I just needed to....I wanted to say...” his voice is quaking along with his body.

“Get in here now before you freeze to death,” I pull him through the doorway and shut the door, half dragging him to the fire.

It takes him a few minutes to respond, too busy trying to keep warm but he won't let me take his wet clothes away. It's like he's trying to punish himself, martyr himself even.

“Will, tell me what's wrong?” I sit on the floor next to him. “Is it Hannibal?”

At the noticeable flinch, I know that's the problem. I just sit there and offer my hand to him, knowing he doesn't like to be touched without warning and he takes it immediately, squeezing hard. Whatever Dr. Lecter had done must have been bad.

“I can't believe I was so stupid,” he chokes out, eyes brimming with tears. “He's been manipulating me from the beginning.”

I could be vindictive, I could be spiteful and say “I told you so” but I'm not that person and as much as I hate Will for abandoning me, the love has never really died for him. I still hadn't let go of him in my heart.

“I don't know why I didn't see it,” Will continues, tears finally beginning to track down his cheeks.

“He's very good at what he does,” I say quietly. “It's his profession after all. As much as he can help patients, he can completely ruin their lives as well.”

“You told me. You said he had bad intentions and I didn't believe you. I should've believed you. You've never been anything but loving to me, never wanted anything but the best for me.”

“He was already in your head by that point, Will. I could've told you the Earth goes round the Sun and if Hannibal had told you otherwise you would've argued against me.”

“It's been so lonely,” he hangs his head. “Even when he'd won, he kept me at a distance. The worst thing in all of this though...I lost my best friend. **I lost you and it was unbearable**. I wanted to call you, visit you so many times and I'd be just about to do it when Hannibal would draw me back in again. It's like he knew when I was pulling away.”

“Of course he did. He wanted to keep you away because I'd tell you exactly the kind of person he is.”

“A monster,” Will looks up at me, almost haunted. “An absolute monster. I'm so sorry, sweetheart. This is all my fault. I caused you so much pain and I can't forgive myself and I don't expect you to either.”

“I'm just glad you had the strength to get away,” I squeeze his hand. “Now will you please let me dry your clothes and get you a blanket before you make yourself ill?”

“I don't deserve it though.”

“You're going to make me unhappy so if you ever cared, you'll do this for me.”

“Alright then,” he nods slowly.

I wouldn't let him torture himself like this. I didn't want him to.

So I made him stand and he was so complacent that I had to undress him myself. I stripped him down to his underwear, feeling the ice cold skin underneath and wincing at how much damage he'd done to himself before he'd gotten here.

I wrapped him in the blanket I'd been asleep under as he sat back down and I caught him tightening it around himself and inhaling the scent on it before his body seemed to relax. Knowing Will, familiar smells were a big comfort to him.

I put his clothes in the dryer and came back, offering him a hot mug of cocoa which he took, holding it in his palms for warmth.

“Will, is there anything I can do to help?” I ask as I rejoin him.

I think he might start sobbing with the way his face screws in on itself and he furiously bites his lip. I didn't mean to upset him so much.

“Even after everything I've done to you. I broke your heart and I abandoned you and you _still_ , you _still_ want to help me. I don't deserve it. I deserve to be thrown out into the rain, for you to yell at me, hit me, something other than kindness.”

“I still love you, Will, even after everything,” I admit. “That doesn't go away so easily. I tried, god knows I tried to move on but I just couldn't. All I wanted was you, our life together, the way you'd get jealous when your dogs tried to sit on me and not you, the way you'd make the most perfectly circular pancakes for me in the morning, the way you'd read scientific journals to me like they were the most amazing bed time story. Maybe I shouldn't hold onto you, maybe I should find someone else but I can't help how I feel.”

“I've really missed you, so much it hurts.”

He does something so unlike Will. He makes the first move.

I'm not sure whether it's the influence of Hannibal that made him more confident or he'd found it within himself but he leaned across and kissed me.

It's so familiar and so full of unresolved want that even though he tries to pull back for fear he's overstepped, I chase him until we're both kissing by the firelight. So many months of pain and unsaid feelings blend into the hunger that springs up between us and it wasn't long until I was lost to my own needs.

“Please,” his eyes are pleading as his hand stops just at the top of my thigh, my nightdress rucked up around my waist.

“Yes,” I breathe in equal lust.

I'm on my back quicker than I realise, my nightdress pulled off and my bare body underneath exposed to the licking heat of the fireplace. When Will climbs on top of me, that searing warmth is cut with his icy skin but after frenzied kissing, our hands exploring each other once again and the involuntary roll of my hips against his, he's warming under my touch..

His boxers are thrown to some distant corner of the room and the true Will Graham emerges, the Will nobody gets to see, the Will that takes control. This was the only time where nothing overwhelmed him, where he could just get lost in the sensation.

He was within me quickly but gently, taking his time to appreciate my body with his lips and his hands, re-studying every inch as if it were the first time all over again. I was swept away in his desire for me, letting him do whatever he wanted.

“This is where I should be,” he kisses up the line of my jaw as my head tips back, never breaking the soft thrusting. “This is where I should've always been.”

“Will...”I trail off when his fingers skip between my legs, circling the little bud there.

“In my dreams,” his pace quickens. “I would see this in my dreams. My dreams were the only solace I had. Please tell me I'm not dreaming.”

“You're not dreaming, Will. You're—Oh!” I reach the peak quicker than I expected, so lost in the act that my orgasm rips the sound from my throat and it turns into something baser, darker.

He does not last much longer, obviously holding back as much as he could and he pushes deep, his groan bursting from his lungs as he held me to him tightly.

When the fog had cleared, when we were regaining our breath, panting mixing with the crackling of the fire, he rested his head on my chest and dragged my hand to his hair. He had never demanded this much affection before but I was happy to give it to him.

His eyes fluttered shut as I petted his head and a stillness and assuredness I had never seen in him before took root. My Will had been irreparably changed by Hannibal Lecter but I think it had only made him find his own truth, rather than destroying him.

“I'll never leave you again,” he says seriously. “Never. I can't take back what I did but I can make up for it and promise to never let myself be taken in by a monster like that again.”

“And I know you'll keep that promise,” I kissed the top of his head. “But that doesn't mean you can move straight back in.”

“I know.”

“But you can bring the dogs over. I missed them.”

He laughs and god I have missed that sound, “Sometimes I think you like them more than you like me.”

“It's a close call.”

“In a competition between me and the dogs, I'd pick the dogs too,” he looks up at me, the worry and pain replaced by warmth and love. “I love you. I should've said that more. I love you.”

“I know you do, Will,” I hold him tightly. “You came back to me in the end.”


End file.
